The M preview changes the way Android deals with permissions. Rather than viewing a bulky list and approving all of the things an app wants access to right from the beginning, M lets you grant permission as the need arises.

Starting with the second preview, apps now need permission to access storage outside of their own personal space. This was something they could do out-of-the-box in the first preview build of Android M.

There have been rumblings recently that, adding to its other (perhaps more far-flung) efforts to improve Internet access around the world, Google would eventually deploy its own fleet of satellites. Today, those rumblings got a little bit closer to reality as Google announced its agreement to acquire satellite imaging company Skybox for $500 million in cash.

Skybox's journey so far, according to the announcement on its own blog, has been about revolutionizing "access to information about the changes happening across the surface of the Earth." Having already deployed the world's smallest high-resolution imaging satellite, the company says it's already made "great strides."

As Google Glass continues toward an inevitable public release, users (and developers) are still trying to puzzle out exactly what the device is best suited for. There are games, cooking apps, news alert apps, and of course a tidy bundle of Google services in the slowly expanding list of official Glassware. Of course, there's more to Glass than official Glassware. Developers are making some fairly compelling tools for Google's eyeball computer, and Brivo Labs, in an effort to "explore the future of wearable technology," recently published a demonstration of one such tool.

Through its official global blog, Samsung today announced a new patent licensing deal reached with Google, whereby both companies will have access to each other's existing patents and those filed over the next ten years, covering "a broad range of technologies and business areas."

The cross-licensing agreement is described by Google's Deputy General Counsel for Patents, Allen Lo, as one that will help the two giants "reduce the potential for litigation, and focus instead on innovation." Indeed that has been a popular refrain as both Google and Samsung have historically faced (and continue to face) patent challenges from various other companies on various grounds.

Several days ago, something happened that sent a not insignificant ripple through coverage of Google Glass: someone "jailbroke" the device.

Saurik, who posted the above photo to Twitter, had modified Glass' software "while in the Bay Area after picking it up from Google's headquarters in Mountain View."

Understandably, this idea was a bit bedeviling to the press – ostensibly, Glass is a relatively limited platform for developers, who can only write apps using a web-based API, allowing software to be integrated with the device over the internet.

Titanium Backup, perhaps the most popular and powerful root backup solution available, got an update to version 5.8 today, an update that brought with it fixes, added support, and new features.

Probably the most significant new feature is the addition of web server backup uploading and downloading (for Pro users). If that sounded like a sentence written in Greek, we'll try to expound – what this means is that your device can now start a web server right from the Titanium Backup interface.

Today has been a busy day in the world of rooting – we've already seen root access given to the Xoom Family Edition and the LG Spectrum. The Galaxy Note, slated for official release tomorrow (but already in the hands of some eager pre-order customers) has also been granted root today, thanks to Da_G over at XDA. The method appears to be similar to the Epic 4G Touch's original root procedure, and requires just a couple of quick Odin commands.

Dan Rosenberg, a security researcher and rooting mastermind, has done it again, this time making quick work of the LG Spectrum. In a post to his blog just moments ago, Rosenberg simply states "Yawn. LG loses, users win," and gives instructions on downloading the scripts he provides for Windows, Linux, and OSX.

Considering all that Rosenberg has done (and continues to do) for the community, I'd highly recommend supporting him by hitting the donate button below.

After learning that yesterday's XYBoard root (which was thought to work on all Gingerbread/Honeycomb Moto devices) didn't play nice with Motorola's Xoom Family Edition, highly respected security researcher Dan Rosenberg decided to have a look, hoping to bring root back to the FE.

In a post to his blog earlier today, Rosenberg announced that he has found a working exploit for rooting the Xoom Family Edition. Rosenberg has again beaten others to the punch, namely a developer called Evil_DevNull, who Rosenberg calls out in the post for the alleged plagiarism of a previous FE exploit.

Update: You can download a batch script to root your DROID 4 now (you'll need to have USB debugging and Unknown Sources enabled in the Application settings menu). Find the file on this page, and if you can spare it, take the time to donate to Dan Rosenberg for finding the exploit. All proceeds will go directly to charity, in this case, the American Red Cross.

Widely known and respected security researcher Dan Rosenberg has evidently uncovered a root method for the Droid 4, in addition to a universal Motorola root method.